Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Brine for smoked salmon?

I'm with the less is more crowd. Salt and sugar only with low heat and short smoke duration.

I've generally had better success with dry brine. 1 part kosher salt to 4 parts light brown sugar. 4 hours only in brine, rinse, pat dry and put on racks in refrigerator overnight to form pellicle and allow salinity to equalize a bit. In a pinch a couple hours in front of a fan rather than overnight in the refrigerator will work. The dry brine pulls out some of the moisture from the fish, and reduces required smoking time. Also texture is a little firmer (more of a cure, than brine).

For wet brine I've used 1 cup kosher salt, 2 cups light brown sugar, and 1 gallon of water for 90 minutes. I do need to experiment a bit more with extending smoking times to perfect this method.

I know the question was about brine, but one point I didn't see mentioned was air flow. I've had white "boogers" on fish that never saw more than 140 degrees. In attempt to maintain temperature I closed the vents off too much and ended up with a bit too much humidity and protein deposits on the surface. Opening the vents up and letting the smoker do it's thing has yielded better results.

Dry method has always been great for us. Try some halibut some time...use apple wood, alder is too sharp for mild white fish.

I've had smoked halibut from a local sausage and seafood purveyor. It was OK, but wasn't overly impressed. I generally prefer oilier fish when smoked.

Jumping off topic a bit from the original posters question. If you don't mind sharing, what is your recommendation for brine and smoking temps/duration with halibut?

The very best is the simplest...
Per gallon of brine:
2 cups unionized salt
3 cups brown sugar

Dissolve salt and sugar in about half of the water by boiling. Then add ice and get the brine very cold.

Soak in brine for 90 minutes. Longer and texture is compromised.

The most critical step is forming a pellicle by drying on the racks before smoking. It is critical.

Smoke at less than 145F. If white denatured proteins ooze out it is overdone. Every bit of the ooze steals moisture from the flesh itself and compromises texture. Cooking too hot will cause the problem and poorly handled fish will have cracks in the flesh where the problem will show itself.

I've smoked halibut and also bought it from AkS&S and it's not even close to good smoked salmon. Stevelyn has it right, that's the best way to do halibut though halibut weaver is also very good when done correctly.

As for smoked salmon, I use brown sugar, non-iodized salt, and water, like Art said, simple is always best with smoked salmon.

looks like I'll need some type of thermometer then. Never used em when working sausage. Its an art I suspect, and I'm still on the crayons and big chief tablet.

Then use the big chief smoker.